History of the Bartow Police Department

More than 100 years ago, first town Marshal of Bartow was chosen. The small horse and buggy town could hardly have foreseen the growth that was to encompass it in the coming century. C.C. Gresham was elected the first town Marshal on July 1, 1882 when the citizens saw a need for better legal protection, and the town of Bartow was incorporated.

The ordinance went into effect several weeks later, promoting this article in the newspaper: "There will be no more drunken brawling or shooting about the streets of Bartow, as such fun now costs from eleven to sixty dollars in each case." Indeed, Marshal Gresham's biggest responsibility in that retrospectively Utopian town of the early 1880's was to stop drunken brawls from occurring in the streets.

After a 15 year period during which town marshals were elected, the town switched to a system whereby the Marshal was appointed. The salary in those days was $50 per month. Though the crimes seem to have grown more heinous and more frequent since those "good old days," the death of a police officer in the line of duty was not unheard of at that time. In 1886, Bartow Marshal Silas W. Campbell was killed in a shootout that left his assistant severely wounded.

Marshal Campbell was shot and killed while attempting to arrest two drunken brothers, Dan and Lony Mann, who were creating a disturbance. The guilty brothers were eventually arrested by other officers, but were removed from the jail by an angry mob and lynched.

Marshal Campbell had served as town marshal for one year and was survived by his wife and children, he was 37 years old.

The Bartow Police Department has evolved over the years from a one man, 15-hour-a-day department into a staff of 41 sworn and 26 non-sworn personnel who provide Law Enforcement services to the citizens of Bartow

Joe Mizell, a Bartow Police Officer from 1922-1946, served as Bartow Police Chief for a total of 10 years during that period. The exact dates are unknown due to a fire which destroyed all of the records between the years of 1911-1939.